The Kerala Assembly complex saw chaos on Wednesday as a group of opposition legislators from the United Democratic Front (UDF) accused Speaker A N Shamseer of bias and got into a scuffle with house marshals. Several opposition MLAs and watch-and-ward staff were injured in the altercation, and they were taken to various hospitals for treatment.
On Wednesday, the opposition had marched to the Speaker’s office, holding a banner that read “Speaker should show justice,” after Shamseer denied their notice for an adjournment motion on women’s security. Tensions escalated as the watch-and-ward staff tried to force the opposition MLAs out of the Speaker’s office, resulting in a scuffle.
The Congress-led UDF claimed that ruling party legislators and personal staff of some ministers also assaulted the opposition MLAs. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V D Satheesan stated that four of their MLAs suffered injuries, and seven watch-and-ward personnel were also injured.
Satheesan alleged that the Speaker was denying the opposition’s democratic rights to raise issues affecting the people of the state in the House.
He accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of pressuring the Speaker to curtail the opposition’s rights and avoiding the issue of the recent brutal assault on a minor girl. Satheesan also claimed that Vijayan was imitating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s actions towards MPs in Parliament.
Ministers P Rajeeve and Mohammed Riyas criticized the UDF and Satheesan, with Rajeeve stating that the opposition had nothing to say about the Brahmapuram fire and was trying to bring the whole House to a standstill. Riyas called Satheesan an “egoistic person” and claimed that there was a secret understanding between Satheesan and the BJP-RSS at the Centre.
(With PTI inputs)
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